The present invention relates to marking food products, and more specifically, marking products with a date.
Often, food products are placed into packages, and the packages are marked with a date that determines the date by which the food product should be used or sold. The date is often referred to as a “sell by date,” “expiration date,” or a “best if used by date.” In one process, several packages of the food product are packaged into a larger storage container, such as a box. Afterwards, the box is placed into a freezer for a period of time until the food products within the box are shipped or sold. Often, when the box is removed from the freezer for shipment or sale, the food products within the box will be thawed and refrigerated. In such a process, the date of removing the box from the freezer determines the date marked on the package. Typically, after removing the box from the freezer, the packages that store the food products are removed from the box and marked with the date and repackaged into the box for shipment or sale.